A New Dawn
by PetalDOHDawn
Summary: This is a Forum contest. After the battle with the Dark Forest, the cats around the lake are trying to continue their daily peaceful lives. But that is hard when old rivalry between clans reappear and generations of battling and hunting for survival continues. Set 7 moons after The Last Hope.
1. Chapter 1

**Hiya so like I said in the summery, this is a forum contest set by ****Silent's Screams****, it is an awesome contest so you should go check it out :)**

**Anyway on with the story**

Bramblestar paced back and forth in his den.

Seven moons, that's all it had taken for Shadowclan to finally cross the line. He'd known it would happen, but Bramblestar had hoped that the peace around the lake might have lasted just a bit longer than _seven _moons.

After the battle, Bramblestar had hoped that maybe, just maybe, the clans would stay at ease and be peaceful. But that had not happened. The clans had lived like this for generations, why should it be changed now?

Bramblestar huffed and sat down. Earlier that day a patrol had gone to the Shadowclan border, only to find Shadowclan had moved the scent line yet again. Bramblestar would have thought that Blackstar wouldn't have made a move to take back that piece of territory because of their last battle and Russetfur's death. But it seemed he'd thought wrong.

Sometimes Bramblestar thought Firestar had made the wrong decision in naming him deputy. He had no idea what to do about Shadowclan. One side of him wanted to move the scent markers back and face any threat that Blackstar sent him. But the other part of him was fighting against that because he didn't want to stir up trouble between Thunderclan and Shadowclan.

Maybe Starclan would send him a sign, although he doubted it, this sort of thing needed to be sorted out by himself.

Thinking it through, Bramblestar decided that he was ready to go straight into battle, but of course he didn't. Tonight was the gathering, this would give him a chance to talk to Blackstar and maybe reason with him.

Bramblestar's stomach growled, he hadn't eaten since this morning and was pretty hungry. He come out of the entrance to the den, it was just a bit after mid afternoon. Carefully he padded down from the highledge and swiftly made his way over to the fresh kill pile.

Admiration came over Bramblestar as he gazed upon it. The prey had been plentiful and his warriors had been busy hunting it all down. There was quite a lot of prey; this would give each of his clan's cats a good meal.

He was just about to pick out a juicy looking vole when he felt a soft pad prod his side. He turned his head around to see Amberpaw, Brightheart and Cloudtail's daughter. Amberpaw's blue eyes were gleaming and she bounced from paw to paw in excitement, Starclan she had a lot of energy.

Before Bramblestar could speak, words tumbled out of Amberpaw's mouth like a whirlpool. "Bramblestar, you haven't said who's going to the gathering tonight, I really want to go. Am I going? Please?"

Her words hit him hard, but he was able to gather the basis of what Amberpaw had said, he cursed silently. Who would come to the gathering had completely slipped his mind. Forgetting about food, he quickly replied to Amberpaw. "I'm just about to announce it now," then without waiting for an answer he scurried back up to the highledge.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the highledge for a clan meeting." His words rang out throughout the camp and soon enough cats began to emerge from their dens.

He saw Hazeltail emerge from the nursery with her and Foxtail's three kits following her, soon after Cinderheart came out, her stomach swollen with Lionblaze's kits. From the medicine cat den emerged Jayfeather along with Briarlight, she was getting stronger.

When all the cats had gathered beneath the highledge, Bramblestar started the meeting. "The cats who will be going to the gathering tonight will be; Squirrelflight, Jayfeather, Toadstep, Brackenfur, Icecloud, Leafpool, Lionblaze, Dovewing, Lillyfur, Snowpaw." He paused for a moment to look down at his clan, his gaze caught Amberpaw's pleading eyes and he just couldn't resist, "and Amberpaw."

"Will you mention Shadowclan changing the border?" Rosepetal called up from where she sat next to Whitewing.

"I intend to, yes," he replied calmly.

Muttering could be heard around the clearing as the cats broke up and discussed the Shadowclan matter.

Bramblestar jumped down from the highledge and padded over to Thornclaw. "I need you to lead a patrol to the Windclan border, take Millie, Berrynose, Seedpelt and Dewpaw."

Thornclaw nodded his head and beckoned the chosen warriors, and apprentice, towards him before leaving through the entrance.

Bramblestar looked around the clearing and took in the activity. Hazeltail was watching her kits outside the nursery while they played; Daisy and Cinderheart sitting close by sharing tongues. Next to the fresh kill pile, Bumblestripe and Dovewing shared a squirrel while Graystripe walked away with a plump mouse hanging from his mouth.

This is how he like his clan; peaceful and happy. It was a shame Shadowclan had to ruin this with changing the scent markers. Bramblestar let the cool air buffet slowly against his fur before finally realising he was about to eat before giving the announcement. His stomach rumbled in agreement.

Slowly Bramblestar walked over to the fresh kill pile and picked up the vole he had seen earlier. He climbed up to the highledge and pushed through to his den before settling down to eat.

_**~ LINE BRAKE. LINE BRAKE. LINE BRAKE. DO NOT WORRY. THIS IS JUST A LINE BRAKE~**_

"Bramblestar. Bramblestar!"

He felt an uncomfortable shove in the side and he sat up groggily, wishing he could just go back to sleep and wash away the tiredness. "What is it?" He yawned.

"The patrol from the Windclan border is back, and it's not good news." Spiderleg replied in a hurry. "Come on," he said as he rushed out of Bramblestar's den.

All tiredness gone, he rushed out after Spiderleg and scurried quickly down from the highledge before coming up to Thornclaw and his patrol. They were panting hard, a clear sign that they'd ran back, this did not decrease Bramblestar's worries.

"What is it? What happened?"

"It's… Windclan," Thornclaw panted. "They're… stealing… prey."

**Leave a review to tell me what you think :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi so in the last chapter I put it was 5 moons after the last hope but then I realised that Lilypaw and Seedpaw are warriors in my story so now I've changed it to seven moons instead. **

**Also I only got back from holiday yesterday so that is why there was a kinda long wait. But anyways its summer holidays now so HOPEFULLY that will mean more frequent updates. Don't kill me if it's not… **

The whole clan was instantly in an uproar. Dovewing noticed Bramblestar, his expression clearly said he was grasping at something helpful or reassuring to say, Dovewing instantly felt sorry for him.

Luckily he was saved by Squirrelflight. She walked up to his side and rested her tail on his shoulders. "How do you know this?" She asked Thornclaw, Bramblestar shot her a grateful look.

"We found their scent all over _our _side of the border," Thornclaw hissed in disgust.

"And there was a pile of sparrow bones that reeked with their scent," Seedpelt added.

Beside Dovewing, Bumblestripe stood up and padded over to everyone else who was crowded round the commotion, Dovewing slowly followed him. "It's obvious that they're not trying to hide it," Bramblestar muttered.

Bumblestripe leaned into Dovewing's ear "another thing that's going to have to be mentioned at the gathering."

Dovewing nodded. "I feel sorry for Bramblestar, first Shadowclan and now Windclan," Bumblestripe nodded in agreement.

As she looked back up, Dovewing realised that you could miss a lot of conversation by just having a chat, a _very _small chat mind you. The rest of Thunderclan were yowling and spitting in disgust.

"I will speak with Onestar about this at the gathering," Bramblestar concluded before padding to the entrance of camp, Squirrelflight at his side.

"I'll see you when you get back from the gathering," Bumblestripe said before licking in-between her ears.

Dovewing purred and nuzzled his cheek. "I'll tell you all about it."

With that she padded up to the others going to the gathering, finding a space next to Lionblaze. "How's Cinderheart?" She asked, trying to make conversation.

Lionblaze puffed out his chest. "She's great; the kits should be coming in less than a moon."

"That's great," she purred.

"Speaking of kits, when are you going to be expecting?" Icecloud said as she came and sat down next to her, resting her tail lightly on Dovewing's shoulders.

Dovewing looked at her in shock; she could hear Lionblaze purring in amusement next to her. She scowled and bent her head down to lick her chest to hide her embarrassment. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, you and Bumblestripe," Icecloud purred.

Before Dovewing could reply, Bramblestar announced that they were leaving so she glared half heartedly at Icecloud before turning around and following the rest of Thunderclan out of the thorn tunnel. As she walked she started pondering what Icecloud had said. She _really _did like Bumblestripe, and they'd been mates for a while now, but did she really want to have kits yet? Pushing the thought aside, she looked forward and concentrated on moving forward.

**Okay, this was like a REALLY short chapter, and I was supposed to add more but I wasn't really in a typy mood but I wanted to get something up. So I'll continue in Dovewing's POV for the next chapter (Which will be finishing this chapter.) **


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